


patron saints of imperfection

by cactuslesbian



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Found Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, The Desolation, The Hunt, humanity is a fickle thing when you're a creature of the hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactuslesbian/pseuds/cactuslesbian
Summary: trevor and julia save a child and think a little about their own humanity
Relationships: Trevor Herbert & Julia Montauk
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	patron saints of imperfection

**Author's Note:**

> tbh i was just going to make this a short drabble on my rp blog as the oc i have mentioned here has a tma verse,, but. there needs to be more content in julia and trevor's tags so you will see me today.
> 
> this all takes place roughly in 2011. julia has been hunting with trevor for nearly a year but tbh i played fast and loose with the timeline.

The little girl still smells like burning.

Trevor balances her on his hip; the gesture an echo of when Nigel would comfort him as a child, soothing, or at least he hopes. One arm keeps her steady and the other remains wrapped around his knife, just in case. She asks questions in a high and curious little voice and he hardly pays attention enough to answer, simply leaning against an alley wall with her so she won’t have to see Julia kill the monsters.

Neither of them know what they’d wanted with her, just that they had to intervene. Between the heavy scent of tallow and kerosene and burning human skin, they had no choice in the matter. They can put their current hunt aside for just a little while. The thing they're hunting has left them quite a trail; all sickness and rot that is downright pungent to their heightened senses of smell.

“Your hair is messy.” the girl informs matter of factly, drawing him out of his train of thought. 

Trevor turns his attention on her fully for the first time since they’d arrived in the little alley, fixes a wry smile on his face that’s meant to be gentle, or as gentle as a jagged thing like him can be. “That so?”

“Here.” She’s got a little yellow clip in her hands. Plastic, cheap, the kind in every drug store. Her head tilts as she carefully pins his hair back and off his face, out of his eyes. And once that’s done she grins, revealing two missing front teeth. “There! All better.”

“Why thank you, little miss.” Trevor takes his hand off the knife for the first time that evening to gently ghost his fingertips over the little plastic clip. His fingers ache as they adjust to not being curled around a hilt. He can’t remember the last time anyone had cared about his appearance enough to help with it. Though, it’s a good reminder that he’ll need to cut his hair soon.

“Livvy.” she corrects in her little voice. “‘S short for Olivia, ‘cept no one calls me that unless my dad is really really scared ‘cause I’ve done something _bad._ ”

“Well my name is Trevor and I have a friend named Julia who’s going to meet us in a little bit. She’s- she’s running an errand. We’re gonna get you someplace safe, alright?” 

“Can my dad come?” Livvy asks, blinking up at him. The question is so innocent, so genuine it catches him off guard for a minute. But Trevor has an awful suspicion about the source of the burning flesh smell; he just hopes to god he’s wrong, for the little girl’s sake.

Instead he pats her head a little, shifts so she can’t quite see his expression, “Ah, we’re gonna get him later, love, don’t you worry.”

Livvy doesn’t even consider not taking him at his word and Trevor can’t help his relief or the little edge of guilt that makes even the warm blood of the hunt run a little colder in his veins. 

“She alright?” Julia asks when she walks into the alley a few minutes later. 

Trevor notices the ash on her cheek, the way the iron scent that hangs around her is tinged with that sickly tallow smell. Livvy, however, doesn’t seem to notice, idly twirling the frayed cord on Trevor's jacket. He simply nods and walks back toward the car.

Julia’s only been his hunting partner for a year now, but they know each other. Julia knows of Nigel and the vampires and the cancer and Trevor knows of her mother, the dark, Rayner. He can see her scowling in the dark even as she slides into the passenger seat and he buckles liv into the back seat as gently as he can; he knows something’s wrong. She’s not hurt, at least he doesn’t think. He’ll bring it up later, when young ears aren’t listening.

“I figured you might want this,” Julia tells her, pulling a little plush lion out of her inner jacket pocket

“Teddy!” Livvy cries delightedly. She’s pulled the lion from Julia’s hand gratefully and holds it close, nuzzling her little face into its mane. “You found him!”

Julia’s smile is slightly sad, and Trevor has to wonder if she's thinking of her own stolen childhood. “Yeah. Figured he might get lonely without you.”

They are both well acquainted with the monsters that stalk the night, Trevor knows that. He can’t help the way his stomach churns as he thinks of her wide, semi-toothless smile and the idea of someone that little being pulled into their world. They’ve been careful, though, at least they think they have. The little girl will get to hold onto her innocence for a little while longer.

It’s a cold comfort at best and a deliberate deception at worst, knowing what they know.

-

“I just need you to go up to the door and knock, alright, love?” 

Trevor didn’t think he’d had this kind of patience anymore, the ability to talk to someone so calmly and gently. But then again, in their line of work, they don’t much have reason to be gentle. He'd have to guess that it will be less than a week before he and Julia are tearing into some unholy creature who may or may not wear a person's face; there are days where the line blurs. But he’s so very careful as he lifts her out of the car and sets her gently on the ground as though she could break apart. 

Trevor has parked their car in front of a fire station in Oxford. It’s well enough away from London that the monsters who’ve sought out the child in the first place shouldn’t think to look there. 

She’s slept most of the trip, wrapped snugly in Julia’s jumper, curled against the door and hugging her lion. Julia hadn’t been able to stifle a laugh when Livvy had asked about her car seat and why she didn’t have one. 

The girl frowns at the instructions given, tilts her head as she looks up at Trevor. “Why?”

“We’ve got to go, but the people in there will look out for you, keep you safe, warm.” Julia explains as she half leans through the open window. Her hand reaches forward to affectionately smush Livvy's curls and she doesn't so much as consider asking for her jumper back. “Do what they tell you, yeah? Be good.”

Livvy doesn’t look thrilled about going to a strange building by herself, but she eventually makes her way up the drive and to the fire station. Trevor and Julia watch silently from the idling car as the door opens, and then they’re off into the night without leaving so much as a trace.

-

“Too damn little.” Julia mumbles into her clenched fist. “What do they want with someone that little?”

Trevor shrugs, one hand still on the wheel. He knows that Julia isn’t looking for a real answer, she’s just voicing her feelings as they drive. “There’s hardly rhyme or reason to this kind of thing, Jules, you know that.” a pause. “Her dad?”

“Burnt to a crisp.” Julia answers. “Right there on the kitchen floor.”

“Jesus.”

It’s a cold comfort knowing that Livvy didn’t witness that. But it also has him wondering, why her? What could wax monsters who burned and destroyed indiscriminately want with a child who couldn’t be more than five years old? And clearly she was their intended target, considering her father’s death.

“You smelled it on her too, right?” Julia asks quietly. “The burning.”

Trevor’s been trying not to think of it too hard, the fact that even when they were well away from their prey and the burned body, little Olivia had still smelled like kerosene, burnt skin. He’d tried to tell himself it was probably just her proximity to the monsters, but even when he’d held her she was much, much too warm. Feverish, almost. _Unnaturally_ warm.

“She’s so young.” Trevor says by way of answer. 

And it’s all he has to say, Julia understands the point he's trying to get across and they're both at a silent agreement. Whatever Livvy is, they aren’t going to kill a child, not unless she gives them cause. And hopefully, she never will.

Trevor runs the thumb of his free hand over the smooth plastic of the clip as he drives with the other.

There are many times when he doubts his own humanity ( he’s well aware that no one simply recovers from terminal lung cancer, not without help.) The longer a hunt goes on, the more desperate he gets, the more unhinged he feels, the more his lungs ache. He’s well acquainted with addiction and the thought of trading one addiction for another just leaves him feeling hollow.

He tucks the clip back into his pocket. 

The reminder that he’s not simply a creature of blood and claws, that there’s still humanity under the sharp edge of the hunt, is welcome.

**Author's Note:**

> olivia is around four and does have connections to the desolation. later, she'll go to the archives and ask about why she's like that, but for now all she knows is that she doesn't get burned and sometimes things around her boil and catch fire. she's just doing her best.
> 
> Anyway, catch me on @smallandknowingdyke on tumblr or dorkbending on twitter


End file.
